SARLAND Victor Henry

The marriage of Victor H. Sarland to Margherita F. Cornforth is registered in the December Quarter 1928 under the Coventry Registration District. A further marriage ceremony between the couple was performed under Licence at St Johns (Afghan Memorial) Church, Colaba, India on 15th July 1929:

Victor Henry Sarland, age 24, bachelor, Lieutenant, resident Bombay, father Victor Egmont Sarland
Margherita Florence Cornforth, age 27, spinster, resident Bombay, father Alexander William Cornforth

The couple had at least one child, a daughter, Margaret A. Sarland born in 1931 in Shropshire. Victor and Margherita divorced at some point as the marriage of Victor Sarland to Florence M. Morton is registered in the March Quarter 1944 under the Surrey S.W. Registration District. Margherita Florence Sarland, born 12th August 1896 died in October 1992 in Devon. Florence M. Sarland, born in 1904, died in Staffordshire in 1963.

The following letter from Victor’s daughter appears in the Daily Telegraph, 22nd March 2003:
Margaret Hughes, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hants 12:01AM GMT 22 Mar 2003
Sir- On June 4, 1944, my father – Major Victor Sarland, RAMC – was waiting with his men in a little village in Norfolk for D-Day. He spoke at the church service that morning to his platoon of the coming conflict. He said that some of them would not be returning home, but that there was no need to be afraid of dying. I was only 13 and was not there, but heard this from his aunt. I have never forgotten this, particularly as, within a few hours, he was himself dead from a stroke, so he never did lead his men to France.

There must have been many occasions such as this, at times of imminent conflict, when commanding officers reassured their men. There were no media with television cameras and tape recorders, of course, so much has been lost. Lt Col Collins came “out of the same drawer” as my dad and is to be much admired for his courage. He will surely motivate his men to fight for a just cause.